KUALA LUMPUR, July 15 — National badminton legend, Datuk Lee Chong Wei believes that the country’s men’s singles ace, Lee Zii Jia, must know how to handle pressure to gain success at the Tokyo Olympics, which will be held from July 23 to Aug 8.
Aware that Zii Jia will carry Malaysia’s hopes to deliver a medal in his Olympics debut, Chong Wei, who is also a three-time Olympic silver medallist, said it is imperative for the world number eight shuttler to get his decisions right each time he goes on court at the Musashino Forest Sport Plaza located in Chōfu, Tokyo.
“Anything can happen in the Olympics and I believe Zii Jia has the opportunity in Tokyo but he must know how to release the pressure (on himself) first. Pressure is always there,” he said in a video uploaded on the Badminton Association of Malaysia’s (BAM) Youtube today.
Meanwhile, Chong Wei, who is also Malaysia’s chef de mission (CDM) to the Tokyo Olympics, is confident that Hendrawan, the men’s singles silver medallist at the Sydney Olympics in 2000, will use his experience competing in the Olympics to help Zii Jia perform better in the Land of the Rising Sun.
“Hendrawan will definitely help Zii Jia up to 10 to 20 per cent at the Tokyo Olympics,” he added.
At Sydney 2000, Hendrawan of Indonesia emerged as the second best in the men’s singles after losing 4-15, 13-15, to China’s player, Ji Xinpeng.
Zii Jia has been drawn in Group M with France’s Brice Leverdez and Ukraine’s Artem Pochtarov in the preliminary stage in the Tokyo Olympics.
The badminton events in Tokyo Olympics are slated to be held from July 24-Aug 2.
